Drawer element for a refrigeration device

ABSTRACT

A drawer element for a refrigeration device. The drawer element includes a body with a bottom, two side or lateral walls and a rear wall. The drawer element further includes a front flap hinged to the body along the bottom thereof and moveable between a closed and an open position. The front flap is removeably engaged with the body to retain the front flap in the closed position unless released by a user. The front edges of the lateral walls and the front flap had a tongue and groove connection formed in at least the closed position.

The present invention relates to a drawer element for a refrigerationdevice and a refrigeration device fitted with such a drawer.

It is known to provide domestic freezer appliances for storing andordering frozen goods with pull-out drawers or drawers. These pull-outdrawers can be gripped by a user by a grip area provided for thispurpose and pulled fully or partially out of the appliance to put in,sort or remove frozen goods. These pull-out drawers are usually used atheights of up to ca. 1.4 m above the floor, since the pull-out drawersmake access to the frozen goods in a high inbuilt position difficult.

Compartments of a freezer at a height of over 1.4 m are thus mostlyclosed by flaps, which are hinged to the inner container of the freezerand in the open state allow access to the compartment in behind in ahorizontal direction.

Such flaps cannot be provided on all compartments of a refrigerationdevice, since in the case of low-lying compartments they compel a userto bend down in front of the appliance to access rear areas of thecompartments and thus they make access considerably more difficult ascompared to a pull-our drawer.

The height below which pull-out drawers should be used for comfortableaccess or respectively are more effective above the flaps, variesdepending on body size and mobility of a user. With inbuiltrefrigeration appliances in particular the height, at which acompartment is situated in the interior of such an appliance afterinstallation, furthermore is not determined in advance, so that it isdifficult for a refrigeration device manufacturer to establish inadvance the optimal division of the interior of a refrigeration deviceinto compartments with pull-out drawers and compartments with flaps.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,801,146 discloses a freezer with a pull-our drawer,whereof the front side is formed by a flap which can be pivoted toenable access to the contents of the drawer. The pivoting axis of theflap is located at half height of the drawer element. When the flap isopen the free cross-section is substantially smaller than the surface ofthe flap itself, which makes loading and unloading the compartmentdifficult. The known drawer is thus recommended only for special coolgoods, namely eggs.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,573 A1 discloses a drawer element for arefrigeration device, wherein a mobile front flap is hinged on an upperedge of the drawer. The flap opens automatically when the drawer ispulled out, since a jib is pressed down by a threshold on the ceiling ofthe interior of the refrigeration device. But the drawer cannot bepulled out far enough from the refrigeration device to allow access fromabove to its contents, because then the flap would fall back and its jibwould hinder its being pushed back in. Furthermore, hinging the flap inthe upper area of the drawer restricts the free cross-section availablefor loading and unloading items.

An object of the invention is to provide a drawer element for arefrigeration device, which allows comfortable loading and removal bothfrom the front and from above.

This task is solved by a mobile front flap of the inventive drawerelement having a pivoting axis at the level of the floor of the body. Inthis way, when in the open position the front flap does not restrict thefree cross-section available for loading and unloading.

A further object of the invention is to provide a drawer element for arefrigeration device, which is suited both for access from the front andfrom above, and which is cost-effective to produce and is robust.

This further object is solved by front edges of walls of a body of thedrawer element with its mobile front flap forming a tongue and grooveconnection at least in a closed position. Via this tongue and grooveconnection the front flap supports the side walls of the drawer elementagainst lateral forces, without a one-piece permanent connection to theside walls being necessary.

Producing the drawer element is particularly simple, if a tongue of thetongue and groove connection is in each case formed by the front edgesof the side walls which engage in a groove of the front flap.

Such a groove is delimited on the front flap effectively by two ribsprojecting from an outside wall of the front flap. Groove and tongue areadvantageously dimensioned such that in the open state of the flap thetongue and groove connection also remains on at least a part of itslength. The tongue and groove connection remaining in this statestabilises the drawer element also in the open position of the frontflap, and facilitates restoring the full engagement of groove and tonguewhen the front flap is closed.

To reinforce the body the front edges of the side walls can be connectedin their upper area to one another by a cross brace. Since such a crossbrace however hinders loading and unloading of cool goods from thedrawer element via the front flap, in a preferred design the front edgesof the side walls are not connected to one another in their upper area.

To stop the front flap in its closed position the front edges of theside walls and the front flap are preferably provided with complementarysnap-in means.

To be able to make or respectively release the locking of the front flapit is preferably mounted on the body with a clearance in thelongitudinal direction of the front edges.

Also, the front flap is advantageously provided with at least one snib,which is mobile between a position, in which it allows the front flap tobe folded back, and a position, in which it blocks opening. Such a snibcan be used by a user of the refrigeration device to block the frontflap from pivoting with low-lying drawer elements, wherein the frontflap is not supposed to pivot if it is pulled on, rather the entiredrawer element is to be pulled out.

Such a snib is effectively stable in both positions, so that on the onehand the abovementioned blocking of the folding back is permanent, onthe other hand the possibility for swinging back the front flap remainsintact also when the front flap is swung back into the closed positionin the case of a high drawer element.

The position of the snib is effectively visible on the outside of thefront flap, so that a user can see immediately from a drawer elementwhether it can be pulled out or folded back.

A grip area for pulling on the drawer element or for pivoting the frontflap is effectively formed on a region of the front flap distant from apivoting axis of the front flap.

In addition, a second grip area can be formed on an area of the frontflap near the pivoting axis. Such a grip area is suited in particularfor pulling out the drawer element from the refrigeration device.

A further task of the invention is to provide a refrigeration devicewith an interior divided into several compartments, which, independentlyof body size and mobility and independently of the installation heightof the refrigeration device, allows each user the type of access optimalto him/her to the individual compartments in each case, without innerparts of the refrigeration device having to be exchanged for thispurpose.

This task is solved by a refrigeration device having the features ofclaim 15.

Because each compartment is fitted with a drawer element, which can beselectively pulled out or folded back at the front, such optimal accessis possible. The drawer elements are preferably, and for theabovementioned reasons, drawer elements of the abovementioned type.

Further features and advantages of the invention will emerge from thefollowing description of embodiments with reference to the attachedfigures, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a drawer element according to thepresent invention, with front flap in closed position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the same drawer element with front flapin open position;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a second form of the drawer element,with front flap in closed position; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an inventive refrigeration device.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a drawer element according to a firstconfiguration of the invention. A body 1 of the drawer element mouldedin one piece from plastic comprises a floor 2, two side walls 3 and arear wall 4. A front wall of the drawer element is formed by a frontflap 5, which pivots about an axis lying approximately at the level ofthe floor 2. Its position is fixed by two trunnions 6, which in eachcase protrude outwards from the side walls 3 and engage in long holes 7,formed in side flanks 8 of the front flap 5 parallel to the den sidewalls 3.

Standing above the trunnions 6 from each side wall 3 is a snap-in pin 9,which engages in a notch 10 of each side flank 8 open at the edgeobliquely downwards. The engagement between snap-in pin 9 and notch 10holds the front flap 5 in its closed position. By lifting the front flap5 in a vertical direction about the clearance fixed by the long holes 7the engagement between snap-in pin and notch 10 can be cancelled andthen the front flap 5 can pivot into the open position shown in FIG. 2.In this open position of the front flap 5 a user can access items storedin the inside of the drawer element, without having to pull the drawerelement out of a refrigeration device, in which it is installed.

As evident from FIG. 2, the front edges 11 of the side walls 3 form twotongues, which can engage in complementary grooves 13 of the front flap5, delimited by the side flanks 8 and walls 12 parallel to the latter.In the open position shown in FIG. 2 the engagement of the front edges11 in the grooves 13 is restricted only on a short section near thelower end of the edges 11. When the front flap 5 is pivoted into itsclosed position however, this engagement is extended until it finallyextends over the entire height of the edges 11. The advantage ofcontinuance of the engagement in the open position of the flap 5 and itsgradual lengthening with closing of the flap 5 is that in the case ofdeformation of the body 1, when the front edges 11 in their upper areaare bent onto or away from one another, such deformation is eliminatedby closing the front flap 5. Closing the front flap 5 never fails tohave the edge of one of the side flanks 8 and the walls 12 collide withthe front edge 11 of one of the side walls 3 assigned as tongue.

Positioned on the external surface of the front flap 5 are two slides14, which can be pushed by a user in a horizontal direction. FIG. 1shows the slides in each case in an outer stop position. As FIG. 2 showsthe slides 14 are linked with snibs 15, which engage in the outer stopposition of FIG. 1 via openings of the walls 12 in bores 16 of the sidewalls 3, and thus stop the front flap 5 in its closed position. To beable to fold back the front flap 5 as shown in FIG. 2, the slides 14must first be pushed into an inner stop position, in which the snibs 15disengage from the bores 16 of the side walls 3. Only then is itpossible to raise the front flap 5 to release the engagement betweensnap-in pin 9 and notch 10 and top open the flap 5.

A grip area 17 is arranged centrally along the upper edge of the frontflap 5.

The grip area 17 is formed by a recess open to the top, which enables auser to reach in behind an undercut wall piece 18 (marked out in FIG. 1in dashed lines) with fingers and pull out the drawer element as a wholefrom the refrigeration device by pulling the wall piece 18 forward whenthe front flap 5 is locked or, when the front flap 5 is unlocked,pivoting the latter into its open position.

Due to the simplified configuration the slides 14 and the snib 15 areomitted. Here too it is possible for a user to pivot the front flap 5back by pulling selectively on the grip area 15 or, in that at the sametime it exerts pressure downwards onto the front flap 5, which preventsthe front flap 5 from sliding up on the snap-in pin 9, pulling out thedrawer element.

In the modification of the inventive drawer element shown in FIG. 3 anadditional grip area 19 is formed on the lower edge of the front flap 5,at the level of the axis of rotation defined by the trunnions 6. Thisgrip area 19 open downwards is particularly easy for a user to grip, ifthe drawer element is arranged below the chest height of the user. Withsuch a drawer element it is also preferred for easy access to pull itout of the refrigeration device, instead of folding it back. By grippingthe grip area 19 at the level of the axis practically no torque isexerted in the direction of opening of the front flap 5. With thisconfiguration the locking of the front flap 5 in the closed position bythe slides 14 and snib 15 can also be replaced for example by aneffective spring element between body and front flap 5, throwing thefront flap 5 downwards, whereof the strength is such that the torqueexerted by pulling on the upper grip area 17 is sufficient to press thetongue back, lift the flap and release the snap-in pin 9 from thenotches 10, whereas with pulling on the lower grip area 19 the tonguemaintains engagement of the snap-in pin 9 with the notches 10, so thatthe drawer element is pulled out as a whole.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a freezer 21, whereof the interior isdivided into a plurality of compartments, each of which accommodates adrawer element 22 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Depending on his/her ownbody size and, if the freezer 21 is an inbuilt model, according toinstallation height, a user can determine for each individual drawerelement 22 by adjusting the slides 14 whether access to the drawerelement 22 should be possible by pulling out the whole drawer or bypivoting the front flap. Standardised internal outfitting of the freezer21 is therefore sufficient to satisfy the requirements of all users.

1-17. (canceled)
 18. A refrigeration device including at least onedrawer element, said drawer element comprising: a body having at least afloor and two side walls; said body further including a front flaphinged on said body moveable between a closed and an open position; andsaid body further including said front flap hinged on said body at apivoting axis arranged substantially at the level of said body floor.19. The refrigeration device according to claim 18, including saidpivoting axis is formed by trunnions arranged on said side walls anddirected away from said body.
 20. The refrigeration device according toclaim 18, including said front edges of said side walls are notconnected to one another in their upper area.
 21. The refrigerationdevice according to claim 18, including said front edges and said frontflap have complementary snap-in means.
 22. The refrigeration deviceaccording to claim 18, including said front flap bears at least onesnib, said snib can be shifted between a position, in which it permitssaid front flap to be opened, and a position, in which said snib barsopening said front flap.
 23. The refrigeration according to claim 18,including a grip area formed on an area of said front flap distant fromsaid pivoting axis of said front flap.
 24. The refrigeration deviceaccording to claim 23, including a second grip area formed on an area ofsaid front flap adjoining said pivoting axis.
 25. A refrigeration deviceincluding at least one drawer element, said drawer element comprising: abody having at least a floor and two side walls; said two side walls,each including a front edge; said body further including a front flaphinged on said body moveable between a closed and an open position; andsaid front edges of said side walls and said front flap form a tongueand groove connection at least in said closed position.
 26. Therefrigeration device according to claim 25, including each of said frontedges form a tongue of said tongue and groove connection, which engagesin a groove formed in said front flap.
 27. The refrigeration deviceaccording to claim 26, including said groove delimited by a pair of ribsprotruding from an outside wall of said front flap.
 28. Therefrigeration device according to claim 25, including said tongue andgroove connection in said open position of said flap remains on at leasta part of its length.
 29. The refrigeration device according to claim25, including said pivoting axis arranged substantially at the level ofsaid body floor.
 30. The refrigeration device according to claim 25,including said front edges of said side walls are not connected to oneanother in their upper area.
 31. The refrigeration device according toclaim 25, including said front edges and said front flap includecomplementary snap-in means.
 32. The refrigeration device according toclaim 31, including said front flap is mounted on said body withclearance in the longitudinal direction of said front edges.
 33. Therefrigeration device according to claim 25, including said front flapbears at least one snib (15), said snib can be shifted between aposition, in which it permits said front flap to be opened, and aposition, in which said snib bars opening said front flap.
 34. Therefrigeration device according to claim 33, including said snib isstable in both said open and said closed positions.
 35. Therefrigeration device according to claim 33, including said position ofsaid snib is visible on the outside of said front flap.
 36. Therefrigeration device according to claim 25, including a grip area formedon an area of said front flap distant from said pivoting axis of saidfront flap.
 37. The refrigeration device according to claim 36,including a second grip area formed on an area of said front flapadjoining said pivoting axis.